


Luke Castellan's Second Chance

by considermewhelmed



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alive Luke Castellan, Big Brother!Luke, F/M, Gen, It is overall funny tho I promise, Luke Castellan Alive AU, Luke Castellan Is Trying His Best, Luke Castellan Redemption, Luke takes care of the Argo II crew, Mentor!Luke, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sally Jackson basically adopted Luke, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27640409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/considermewhelmed/pseuds/considermewhelmed
Summary: When Luke Castellan was saved by Hermes, who couldn't bear to watch his son die despite everything, Luke is left to face the consequences of his actions. Condemned to the Big House at Camp Half-Blood, separated from the other campers at meals and during training, Luke tries to adjust to this new life. It was lonely, but he knew ultimately, he deserved it, and he was lucky to even have a bed to sleep in. He was lucky the gods didn't banish him entirely.Percy offers Luke a second chance at life, one separate from the gods and from the Camp, getting him a job New York and letting him live with him, Sally and Paul.What could go wrong?
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Luke Castellan/Original Character(s), Luke Castellan/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	1. Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: Hey! This fic was originally posted on Tumblr, but I wanted to put it here too! My Tumblr is the same username if you want to read ahead, or other works that I haven't transferred over to here yet.

It hadn’t been very long since the war. Luke has been pardoned by the gods but was still kept under a very watchful eye at camp. He was staying in the Big House, trained separately from the other campers, took his meal inside after burning his offering.

It was lonely.

But he knew he deserved it.

The fact that he was allowed back at camp was miracle in itself, though he suspected they only did to keep an eye on him rather then out of the goodness of their hearts. After all, he still had Achilles Curse, it would be foolish to let him go back out into the world.

He had tried a couple time to talk to Annabeth, but if she could see him, she deemed it too close and she’d turn the other way. That seemed to be the general consensus, even when Luke was allowed to wander free, the campers avoided him.

He was working on his own in the arena, hacking away at a dummy as flashes of the past couple years flew through his head. He still heard Kronos sometimes, taunting him- he imagined it wasn’t the Lord Titan himself, just the memory of the worst decision of his life coming back to haunt him.

He would admit, this sword felt better in his hand, far more balanced than Backbiter.

Usually, Luke tried to forget everything when he was training, it was a convenient distraction.

However, he was struggling to keep focused. Flashes of blood and dust and screams bounced around his head, dead demigods littering lower Manhattan, the glare set in the eyes of every camper that lost someone in the war he never meant to start.

How could he explain to everyone that he never wanted to get them involved? He thought Kronos was the answer, thought he was going to help the demigods, that’s what he told them. He promised none of the demigods would get hurt, the gods were stupid, and prideful, and would self destruct all on their own.

He couldn’t even betray everyone he knew and cared for right.

He failed as a demigod. He failed as a councillor. He failed as a hero. He failed at a betrayer. He failed as a vessel.

He just kept failing.

At night, when he was alone with no distractions, he thought about how much easier it would be for everyone if Hermes had just let him die, instead of bringing the Fleece to heal the wound once Kronos was expelled from his body.

He was already working on the third dummy when a familiar voice called out to him.

“Alright, so say my opponent is left handed, we’re completely mirrored. What do I do?”

Luke, his chest heaving from the amount of effort he just put forth, turned to the 16 year old at the entrance of the arena.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Percy stepped into the arena. “I’ve been lucky, y’know, facing opponents who are right handed. It’s easier to attack and defend at the same time like that, but there’s gonna come a day where I eventually face someone who’s left handed. How do I defend myself?”

Luke was a little lost, and looked over to where Chiron usually watched him, only to realize the centaur had snuck away while Luke was in his head space. “Is it your turn to babysit me?” Luke asked warily.

“No, I usually train with Hermes cabin but they’re doing archery.” Percy shrugged, heading in, holding out a bottle of water to him.

Luke raised his eyebrow and hesitantly took the bottle, screwing off the lid and taking a sip. “You can’t just avoid archery because you don’t like it.” Luke pointed out, testing the waters with the son of Poseidon.

“I’m a terrible shot, the only good shot I’ve ever made was guided by Hera.” Percy pointed out, heading to the armour and getting suited up.

Luke’s second eyebrow raised. “I may be a little rusty on my Greek Mythology but I’m pretty sure that’s not her area of expertise.” He took a seat, drinking more water.

“Depends what you want to consider her area of expertise. Archery? Not technically. Her ‘family’? Yeah.” Percy shrugged. “Whatever, the last time I tried to do archery, Travis and Connor messed with my string so it snapped, I had a cut the whole way down my arm.” He tightened the straps of his armour.

“Nice to know those two haven’t changed.” Luke rolled his eyes and stood up, stretching.

Percy pulled out Riptide. “Alright, show me whatcha got. I do have to warn you, I’ve gotten better since our last lesson.”

Luke was hesitant.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked quietly.

Percy regarded him thoughtfully. “Honestly? Because I think everyone deserves a second chance. And I figured you might miss sparring.” He shrugged. “As long as you promise not to dismember me, I’m happy to train with you.”

Luke nodded slowly, pulling his sword out, switching to his left hand. “First, footwork.”

Percy nodded, ready to learn.

Chiron watched from his hiding spot and smiled a bit to himself.

Perhaps things could be saved after all.


	2. Honour Amongst Thieves

Luke scraped off a sizeable portion for Hermes before he started his journey back to the Big House when a hand grabbed his arm gently to stop him. He glanced over to see that it had been Travis who stopped him.

They were silent for a moment before Luke cleared his throat awkwardly. “What’s up?” He offered, wincing a little at the awkwardness.

“Well, since Percy made the gods promise to start claiming their kids, we’ve had a bunch of space open up at the Hermes table,” He started, glancing back at Connor who gave a thumbs up. “So,” Travis turned his attention back to Luke. “It’s pretty empty, so if you wanted to come eat with us instead of in the Big House, there’s room for you.”

Luke looked at the table warily. “Am I going to get super glued to my seat?” He asked, a little suspicious, a little wary, a little nervous about the prospect of eating with the other campers again.

“Not this time,” Travis promised, holding up his pinkie.

Luke’s throat tightened a little. When Travis and Connor first arrived at camp, they were claimed within a few days. Obviously they didn’t move cabins, but they’d been terrible with pranks and jokes. Oftentimes, they took it too far, to a point where Luke couldn’t trust them about anything.

It wasn’t until the day Connor had come to find him because they had been messing around where they shouldn’t and Travis got hurt that they figured out a way for Luke to be able to trust their word. Obviously, when Connor had come to him, running and panicked, Luke hadn’t believed him. They had used that one the week before, and it took Luke three days to get the green goo out of his hair from the ambush that had been waiting for him.

_“And why should I believe you?” Luke had raised his eyebrow, not looking away from his target. “Seriously Connor, do you think I’m stupid?”_

_“Come on Luke, I swear I’m not lying, Travis needs help, please,” Connor looked distraught, but Luke had seen the boys pull off some pretty impressive acts before, so he wasn’t buying it._

_“If it’s so bad, why don’t you go find Chiron?” Luke raised his eyebrow, releasing the arrow in his bow, barely missing the bullseye._

_“Because you know he’ll just give us shit, come on, please.” Connor was getting antsy. “I can’t carry him myself.”_

_“Sorry man, I’m not interested in being turned pink for a week.” He knocked another arrow._

_“I pinkie promise I’m not lying.” Connor held up his pinkie desperately._

_The sheer shock made Luke let the arrow go loose too early, missing the target completely. “What?” He raised his eyebrow, looking at Connor’s extended pinkie._

_“I pinkie promise I’m not lying, Travis really needs help.” Connor was bouncing on the balls of his feet at this point._

_Luke hesitated. It was a ridiculous concept, a pinkie promise, but maybe that’s what made Luke realize that Connor was telling the truth. Luke wrapped his pinkie around Connor’s, and Connor shook their hands three times before letting go of Luke’s pinkie and took off in the direction of the woods._

_Luke dropped his bow and took off, steps behind Connor._

After that, the Stolls and Luke had come to an understanding. A pinkie promise was about as serious as swearing on the Styx to them. Of course they still had their fun, messing with Luke whenever they could, but any prank war between them would be forgotten the moment one of them would offer a pinkie promise.

Luke hesitated now the way he did the first time one of the Stolls offered their pinkie to him before reaching up and wrapping his own around his brothers. They shook three times before dropping hands, and Luke followed Travis to the table he hadn’t sat at in years.

The tension was a little uncomfortable, and the conversation was small and awkward and often trailed off, left unfinished. Eventually, the rest of the table found a way to break the ice and fall into their own conversations, leaving Luke in his own kind of silence. But Luke couldn’t care less, because, for just a moment, he had his brothers back.

He hadn’t even realized he missed them.


	3. Bring On The Real World (pt1)

Luke was on the porch of the Big House, watching as campers trickled out the front gate, past the barrier, onto another year of hoping for normalcy.

He leaned against the rail. He still hadn’t been allowed back into Hermes cabin, though every once in a while he took lunch with his half-siblings, and he trained with Percy. It was nice, and more than he deserved.

But every year, for as long as he’d been at camp, jealousy gnawed at his stomach. Theoretically, Hermes kids don’t give off a strong enough scent to be in too much danger in the outside world, but Luke hadn’t been home since he was 9, save for the day he went to go get his mom’s permission to take a dip in the River Styx. He’d always been a year rounder, and watching other kids go to homes outside of camp always bothered him.

Luke took a seat on the steps and leaned against the rail when Percy came into view. He had Annabeth with him, who almost immediately turned away from him and stopped in her tracks, waiting for Percy without acknowledging Luke.

“Hey,” Percy came over with his backpack, standing in front of Luke a little awkwardly.

Luke nodded back to him. “Heading home?” He asked.

“Yeah… look, I wanted to ask you something,” Percy started, glancing around before looking back at Luke. “Do you want to come back to New York with me?”

“What?” Luke raised his eyebrow, sitting up a little straighter.

“Yeah, my mom got a call from the old candy shop she used to work at. They have a position open, but I want to focus on school, but I figured maybe you’d want a break from everything.” Percy explained, looking completely at ease. “My mom said it was okay with her, she doesn’t mind hosting you as long as you’re actually working and help her around the house.”

Luke was a little lost for words. It must’ve shown clearly on his face because Percy took a deep sigh and sat in front of Luke, cross legged. “I already cleared it with Chiron.”

“Why?” Luke whispered.

“I told you, everyone deserves a second chance.” He shrugged. “Besides, building a life for yourself outside of the gods would probably be a good thing, right?”

Luke nodded slowly. “I’ll… I’ll pack my things then.” He said quietly.

Percy nodded and got comfortable in the grass while Luke headed into the Big House to pack what little belongings he had.

Luke felt a little silly about the whole thing. Other kids his age were graduating university and getting careers and their own places, and here he was, age 22, getting a job for the first time in his life that didn’t involve a sword.

He was done in no time and headed down the stairs, preparing himself for Percy to be gone, and for it to be just one big joke.

But no, there he was, waiting for Luke to take him to New York.

Any kindness any camper had shown Luke was almost always immediately met with distrust and unease, mostly because he knew he didn’t deserve it.

He didn’t speak much the whole ride into New York, averting his eyes at the construction sites they passed through lower Manhattan.

If he thought camp was hard, this was infinitely harder.

They arrived at an apartment complex. “You’ll probably have to room with me for a while, mom said she’d set up a cot and stuff, just while they convert the office into a room for you.” Percy explained, grabbing his bag and getting out. “Then she’s insisting on taking you out to get some clothes that aren’t a Camp Half-Blood shirt and tomorrow she’ll take you over to the candy shop.”

“Percy,” Luke put his hand on his shoulder. “Are you… are you sure she’s okay with this?”

“She’s not your biggest fan,” Percy admitted. “But she’s fine with it.”

Luke nodded slowly and followed him to the elevator, gripping the strap of his bag, trying to keep even breathing. He wasn’t the biggest fan of small spaces. But he wasn’t about to do anything to mess this up. Second chances didn’t come along very often.

Percy led him to the apartment door and opened it up. “Mom, we’re home!” Percy called out.

Sally came around the corner and lit up. “You’re early, I wasn’t expecting you until tonight,” She pointed out, coming over and hugging Percy. “You should’ve Iris-Messaged me or something, I would’ve come and picked you up.”

“It’s alright, I wanted to take Luke on the transit so he could start getting used to it.” Percy shrugged, hugging her back before pulling away.

The dreaded moment where Sally’s eyes fell on Luke froze Luke in place, sweating nervously. He dealt with monsters and gods and titans, and nothing scared him more than the woman in front of him.

Sally kept a pretty guarded look on her face as she observed Luke. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, I’m Sally,” She held her hand out.

Luke swallowed thickly and shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Miss. Jackson.”

“Mrs. Blofis, actually Luke, but you can just call me Sally.” She told him, pulling her hand back. “Now I’m sure you boys are hungry, get settled and we’ll have some lunch. Then we’ll head out and get Luke some things.”

“Sure thing mom,” Percy nodded and looked to Luke, motioning for him to follow.

Sally stopped Luke before he could get too far. “Percy is convinced you’ve changed, and I want to believe you have too, but if you harm even a hair on my son’s head, I will have no problem turning you into a statue, do you understand?” She told Luke in a low voice.

“Yes ma’am,” He mumbled, keeping his eyes on his feet. “I’m sorry. I…” He struggled for words. “I didn’t want a war.”

Sally studied Luke. “I believe you.” She whispered.

“Thank you for housing me.” He nodded.

Percy popped his head out from around the corner. “Hey you coming?”

Luke nodded and followed Percy.


	4. Bring On The Real World (pt2)

Luke was fidgeting with the watch he had bought yesterday, sitting in the passenger’s seat of Sally’s car. The ride was awkwardly silent, Percy had gone to meet up with some friend, so it was only Luke and Sally.

“If you’d like to get your drivers, I can teach you,” Sally told him finally.

Luke nodded slowly. “That would be great actually, thank you,” He said quietly, looking back out the window.

Sally stole glances at Luke, her heart squeezing a little. While she knew that Luke was supposed to be older than Percy, he still had that same lost, unsure look in his eyes. She could never imagine this kid starting a war on the gods, he just looked like he needed a hug.

But then again, maybe that was it in the end. He just needed someone.

Sally found a renewed vigor to be there for Luke. She didn’t know what happened to his mother, but she would do her best to fill the void.

“Do you like sweets?” She asked Luke curiously.

“I haven’t really had a whole lot,” Luke admitted. “I’d been at Camp for so long as a year-rounder, and then… uh, I was travelling a lot and was um… preoccupied?” He winced. “Anyways, there wasn’t really any time or resources for sweets.”

“When did you get to camp?” Sally asked, a little confused.

“I was 14 ma’am,” He nodded.

Sally furrowed her eyebrows. “What about before camp?”

“I was a runaway,” Luke shrugged.

“When did you run away?” She asked, confused further.

Luke shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “I think I was like, 9?” He furrowed his eyebrow. “I found Thalia when I was like, 12? And then we found Annabeth when I was like, 14.”

Sally nearly slammed on the breaks. “You were nine years old?” She asked, astounded.

Luke nodded slowly, his discomfort growing. The urge to run itched at the back of his mind, but he ignored it and continued to fidget with the watch. Sally was still trying to process it when they pulled into the small parking employee parking lot. “Well, working here, you’ll certainly have your share of candy and sweets.” She warned him, in a joking manner with a soft smile.

Luke chuckled quietly and got out of the car, following Sally inside. Sally greeted her old coworkers and introduced Luke to some of the ladies working there. The women were beside themselves, giggling and laughing, and reminded him of the children of Aphrodite and nymphs who used to spy on him training on hot days.

He met the elderly owner and got his name tag and a tour, at which point Sally ducked out, promising to return at 5 to take him home.

Throughout the tour he was asked about himself, how he knew Sally, things of that nature. He figured it was inappropriate to tell the woman that he had nearly killed her son multiple times and was now living with her despite nearly destroying the world, so he lied and said she was his mom’s best friend- she was practically his aunt.

The lady deemed that a good enough answer and finished the tour in the back, and informed him he’d be stocking the shelves and cleaning for now, and would eventually learn the register.

Luke set to work. It was a little boring and tedious, but then again, his daily tasks usually involved more monsters, and bladed weapons.

His body tensed when a girl tapped his shoulder.

“Excuse me, would you know where I could find cherry sours?” She asked him, cocking her head to the side.

Luke turned to her and bit his lip, taking a moment before answering. “Oh uh, sorry, I’m new,” He scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh, no worries,” She waved her hand. “I’ll take another look around, thank you anyways,” She smiled warmly and turned on her heel.

Sure enough, Sally was waiting for him in the parking lot. He got in the car quietly, holding a bag of sweets the owner insisted he take.

“How was work?” Sally asked.

“Boring.” Luke blurted before biting his lip. “Uh sorry, I’m really grateful and-”

Sally laughed and shook her head. “No, you’re right, it’s a little boring at first. But once you really get going and make some friends, I’m sure you’ll find some kind of enjoyment.” She told him, pulling out of the parking lot.

Luke watched out the window as they drove back to the apartment.

He decided that no matter how boring a mortal life was, he preferred it to fending for his life anyday.

He hoped nothing changed.


	5. Bring On The Monsters

It had been a couple weeks since Percy and his family took Luke in. He learned the transit systems quickly, had taken to studying for his learners permit, and had been adamant about doing his chores, trying to stay on Sally’s good side.

It was nearly 6pm when Luke came through the doorway, looking visibly distraught.

Percy glanced over from the game he was playing- a birthday gift from Paul -and paused it, watching Luke with growing concern. “What happened to you?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Percy, you can never escape monsters, no matter what kind of life you live.” He told him seriously, collapsing on the couch beside him.

Percy’s eyebrows rose. “You fought a monster?” He asked incredulously. “You should’ve called me, I would’ve come for backup.”

“Humans are the worst monsters,” He muttered, closing his eyes. “Keto, what in Hades name is keto?”

Percy was confused. “It’s like, a diet plan or something, I don’t know.” Percy shrugged. “Why?”

Luke sat up, getting ready to recount the encounter. “Some lady came in, and asked about keto and I don’t know anything about it and that’s what I told her but I’d been the one stocking the shelves and I never saw anything that said keto and she sat there and shouted at me, calling me disrespectful, asking to speak to my manager, but Chloe was on lunch and I told her that but she just kept yelling.” Luke nearly exploded with the story, slumping back into his seat. “At this point I think I’d rather be fighting a minotaur or something, it’s ridiculous.” He massaged his temples.

“Oh, you definitely fought a monster today,” Percy mused, trying to keep a straight face.

Luke looked up at him confused. “You think? The mist was strong then, because she definitely looked human.”

“Yeah, you fought one of the biggest monsters of our generation, they’re awful,” Percy paused for effect. “A Karen.”

“You mean a Kraken?” Luke asked, confused. “Isn’t that the huge squid from that movie you made me watch?”

“No, not a kraken,” Percy thought about it. “Though that would be cool and we could definitely tag team that one into defeat, but no, a Karen.”

Luke was lost, and the look on his face showed it. Percy burst out laughing. “Man, you know, a Karen? They’re the people who treat employees like shit because they live by the mantra ‘The Customer Is Always Right’. They’re basically assholes who defend their assholery because they don’t think they do anything wrong.” Percy continued.

Luke thought about it for a moment, mulling over the definition. “Like Mr. D.” He said without thinking.

Percy, who had just managed to calm down, burst into another fit of laughter, holding his stomach. “Yeah, exactly like Mr. D,” he gasped for breath between fits of laughter.

Luke quirked a small smile and shook his head. “I’m going to take a shower.” He got up off the couch.

“Hey, did that girl come back today?” Percy smirked, his eyes on the screen.

Luke tripped over his feet. “Girl? What girl?” He looked at Percy with wide eyes.

Of course he knew which girl Percy meant, the girl from his first day that asked about the cherry sours, she came in at least twice a week. Percy had been insistent that Luke try and talk to her, but he was pretty content with doing not that, and instead just pretended his didn’t notice her unless she asked him where something was.

“That girl that you were pretending not to look at when I met you at the store a couple days ago,” Percy rolled his eyes.

Luke shook his head. “I’m taking a shower,” He announced again.

“Luke’s got a cruuuuuush,” Percy teased.

“I’ll run you through with my blade if you don’t shut up!” Luke called back, heading into the bathroom.

“I’ll tell mom that you brought your sword out without permission.” Percy threatened.

Luke popped his head out and glared. “You wouldn’t.”

Percy paused the game. “Try me.”

Luke huffed and went into the bathroom, closing the door.

“That’s what I thought.” Percy mumbled to himself, starting the game again.


	6. Promise

It was December now, Percy had opted to go back to camp for winter break, and Luke chose to remain in New York, at least for a little while, until it was closer to Christmas. He couldn’t get all the time off work, and Sally had gone out of her way to get him this job so he didn’t want to jeopardize that just to go to a place where he wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms.

He was sweeping up the gumdrops from the new display that some snot nosed kid knocked down when the girl Percy always bothered him about wandered over to him. “Hi,” The girl greeted, causing Luke to jump in surprise.

He mentally cursed himself and straightened up a little. “Hi,” He bit his lip, the silence becoming increasingly awkward.

He never really had a good experience with a mortal around his age, he didn’t know how to talk to them.

“I just wanted to introduce myself,” she told him, running a hand through her hair.

It was wheat gold, and it reminded him of the fields at camp during the fall.

“I’m Sophie,” She said. “I just, well, you’re always kind to me when I’m in here, and you seem much more approachable than a lot of the other workers in here, and I haven’t really seen you around much, and I don’t know if you’re looking for friends or not but-”

“I’m Luke,” He interrupted her ramblings, shaking her outstretched hand. “And a friend would be nice, yeah,” He nodded with a small smile, taking his hand back.

_“Building a life for yourself outside of the gods would probably be a good thing.”_

That’s what Percy said. He appreciated Sally and Paul taking him in, and appreciated Percy helping him out and giving him another chance, but he also knew Percy was right. This job was the first step, and this girl might be the next.

“Okay, great! Great, there’s a new exhibit down at MOMA, and my mom got me some tickets so maybe when you’re done work, we could meet up there? If you aren’t busy today?” She offered shyly.

“I’ve never been to MOMA,” He admitted. “I’m still pretty new to New York.”

She lit up, and Luke thought that even Apollo would be jealous at the warmth radiating from her smile. “Well, then we can check out the exhibit and after we can wander around.” She told him. “If you’d like.”

Luke nodded. “I’ll have to stop at the apartment real quick after work, but I could probably be there by, like, 5? I’m off early today.”

“Okay, yeah, great,” She nodded, still smiling. “I’ll see you then?”

Luke nodded and the girl headed out waving.

Luke grinned to himself, suddenly sweeping up with a renewed energy. 4’oclock rolled around and he was gone in an instant, buzzing the whole way back to the apartment. He was giddy and excited and practically ran up the flights of stairs, never even pausing to take a breath when he opened the front door.

“Percy?” Sally came flying at him, tripping over herself, looking significantly less elated to see Luke in the doorframe.

“Woah, Sally, what’s wrong, what happened?” He asked, steadying her.

“Oh, Luke,” She hesitated. “It’s Percy- he’s- he’s missing.” She looked like she was ready to burst any second.

Luke felt his blood run cold. “He’s what?” He breathed out, his mind going a mile a minute.

Did Kronos somehow survive? No, Percy would be safe at camp from threats, wouldn’t he? Then again, Luke managed to do damage during the war. But weren’t the tunnels collapsed now? They had the Golden Fleece, the barrier should still be intact, right? Was this his fault? What was happening?

Sally nearly asked Luke if he had something to do with it. She would be lying if she said it hadn’t crossed her mind- was the benefit of the doubt the worst thing she could’ve given him? Luke spent years trying to kill Percy, why did he have such a drastic change of heart? But by the look on his face, he was just as surprised as she was, and as she watched the blood drain from his cheeks she realized she didn’t need to throw the blame at him, he was already running through the possibilities in his head.

“Annabeth called,” She said instead. “She told me that she’d seen him last night after the fire, he went to his cabin and this morning no one could find him anywhere.” She told him.

“Is he with Poseidon?” Luke suggested, trying to remain calm. “That’s where Tyson is, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I thought,” She said quietly. “Apparently the gods have gone quiet this last month, kids are still getting claimed but there’s no messages, no answers, even Mr. D was recalled back to Olympus.” Sally was getting panicked again. “God, I don’t even know Luke, I don’t even know where to begin looking.”

Luke made his decision in a split second.

“I’ll find him.” He promised, heading to the room to pack.

“What? Luke, wait-”

“I promise,” Luke told her. “If this… if this is somehow my fault, I’m going to fix it.” His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “I promise I’ll find him.”

Sally studied him for a moment before nodding slowly. “I’ll take you back to camp.” He nodded, packing up some clothes and taking a glance around the room before sighing.

“Let’s go.”

It wasn’t until they were nearly at camp that Luke remembered the girl waiting for him at the museum. He looked down at his watch. 5:15. She was probably wondering where he was. Probably thought he was a jerk, and he was standing her up. He shook his head to himself as Sally pulled up to the entrance of the forest.

“Try to stay at the apartment as much as possible, just in case Percy goes there.” He nodded to her.

“Be careful, Luke, okay? Between you and Percy, I don’t know who has more enemies.” Sally sighed.

“I will.” He told Sally, opening the car door, and stepping out before turning back to look at her. “I’ll find him Sally.” He promised.

She nodded. “Iris-Message me the moment you have him.”

“I will.” He nodded. “Stay safe.” He closed the car door and started the familiar trek up the hill.

He supposed that his life outside of the gods would have to wait a little while longer.


	7. Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all it's been a minute, (different name, same author). i've stopped updating this on my tumblr for a minute because I started working on some other things, but I'm slowly getting the motivation to write this one again.

It took Luke three days to convince Annabeth that he should help.

“Annabeth, come on-”

“No,” She grunted, getting ready to go.

“I promised Sally-”

“Well, you’ve never been very good at keeping promises, have you?” She sneered at him.

“I get it, you don’t like me, and you don’t trust me. Whatever,” He sighed. “But I promised Sally I would find Percy, and keep her updated on the search. If you think Percy is at the Grand Canyon, I should go with you.” He paused, Annabeth ignoring him, Butch standing to the side awkwardly as he got the pegasi ready. “Look,” He spoke in a low voice. “If it does have something to do with _him_ , I should be there.”

“Why, so you can report to your master?” She snapped tauntingly.

“So I can distract them so you can get out of there with Percy.” He corrected her, trying to keep a calm and level voice he’d practically perfected in his time of customer service. “However mad any loyalists might be at Percy, they’re going to be even more pissed at me. Let me come.” Desperation seeped into his voice. “I owe Percy and Sally that much.”

Annabeth kept a carefully guarded face, looking Luke over before groaning. “Fine. Fine!” She poked his chest. “But if I think anything funny is going on, I won’t hesitate in pushing you off the chariot.”

Luke nodded and got on with Butch and Annabeth as they took off into the sky, officially on their way to the Grand Canyon.

They seemed to have arrived just on time, though Percy wasn’t anywhere in sight. Instead, it was three kids, looking a little frazzled and a lot confused.

“Who are you and what happened?” Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the blonde boy.

Something about the kid seemed familiar to Luke. He narrowed his eyes, looking him over curiously. Something about his eyes, about the basic confidence surrounding him that reminded Luke of someone, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Annabeth, check it out,” Butch nodded to the kids feet.

Luke looked. He didn’t understand the significance of one shoe thing, but Annabeth obviously wasn’t thrilled. She glared at the demigods as if they were the reason Percy was gone and muttered something about how they might as well take them anyways before stalking off, back to the chariot.

“What’s her problem?” The girl, Piper, asked incredulously.

“Seriously,” Leo agreed.

While Butch explained about the vision, and Percy, Luke kept his gaze fixed on Jason curiously. “What’d you say your name was?” He asked as they walked back to the chariot.

“Jason.” The boy answered. “And you?”

“I’m Luke,” He nodded. “What’s your last name?”

“I don’t remember,” Jason admitted. “I don’t remember anything.”

Luke nodded slowly, a little lost in thought as they got onto the chariot. Butch drove, and Luke took the very back, hanging on so no one fell off.

One second, they were flying fine, the next, they were heading head first into the lake.

The nymphs were kind enough to take them back to shore, and campers came forward with towels. Will, a son of Apollo, seemed like an odd combination of frustrated and distraught over the loss of his chariot while Luke helped Butch cut the destroyed reins off of the pegasi. His gaze drifted back over to Jason who was taking off his jacket.

His arm held a tattoo- no. No it was burn marks. Intricate burn marks that looked like an Eagle, and the letters SPQR, as well as several tally marks.

Eagle.

It clicked in his brain. Jason. Eagle. The scar on his upper lip. The blonde hair. The stormy eyes. The effortlessly confident aura.

When they were on the run, Thalia told him about her little brother maybe twice. She hadn’t gone into much detail, mostly that she had one, he was blonde, like her natural roots, and tried to eat a stapler. She wouldn’t talk about what happened to him, but the way Thalia skirted the topic he had come to his own conclusion.

But maybe they were both wrong.

“Jason, you should speak to Chiron. Drew, can you take him?”

Everyone went their separate ways, the newly claimed Leo following Will to cabin 9, Piper with Annabeth and Jason being dragged away by Drew. Luke snuck off to the fountain behind the Iris Cabin.

“Luke, you’re all wet,” Sally said when she answered the Iris-Message.

“Yeah, took a bit of a swim after the Canyon.” Luke shrugged. “Storm spirits. Real nasty buggers.”

“And?”

Luke hesitated, and that was all the answer Sally needed. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, shaking her head. “Where is he?” She mumbled.

“It’s only been a few days,” Luke reasoned. “I’ll find him Sally, I promise.”

“I know.” She sighed again. “How’s Annabeth doing?”

“Well I thought she was going to kill one of the new demigods on the basis that he wasn’t Percy, but besides that she’s holding up as best can be expected.” Luke shrugged. “She usually avoids me, so I’m not 100% certain how she’s actually doing.”

“Tell her to call me, if she wants.” Sally told him. “I don’t mind.”

“I will.” He nodded. “How are you holding up?”

“You would think that with the amount of times Percy’s gone missing before I would be used to it by now.” She sighed. “But he usually had Annabeth, or Grover, or even Tyson with him when he did, and he’d call me as soon as he got the chance. But this… it’s the longest he’s ever been missing without contacting me.”

“I’m sorry Sally,” He ran a hand through his hair- it was getting long, maybe he should convince a daughter of Aphrodite to give him a trim. “We’ll keep searching, the camp won’t stop until he’s found.”

“I appreciate it Luke, I really do.” She paused. “You don’t think it’s… him, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Luke answered honestly. “I don’t know anything anymore.” He bit his lip. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” She sighed. “I better run, keep me updated, okay?”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded.

They said their goodbyes and Luke sat down by the fountain, usually tended to by one of Iris’ children. He caught his reflection, his eyes widening. He rubbed them furiously, looking back at the water.

They may have returned to normal, but his heartbeat picked up all the same, his chest tightened and he found it hard to breathe.

He could’ve sworn they were gold for that brief moment.


	8. Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all it's been a minute, (different name, same author). i've stopped updating this on my tumblr for a minute because I started working on some other things, but I'm slowly getting the motivation to write this one again.

It took Luke three days to convince Annabeth that he should help.

“Annabeth, come on-”

“No,” She grunted, getting ready to go.

“I promised Sally-”

“Well, you’ve never been very good at keeping promises, have you?” She sneered at him.

“I get it, you don’t like me, and you don’t trust me. Whatever,” He sighed. “But I promised Sally I would find Percy, and keep her updated on the search. If you think Percy is at the Grand Canyon, I should go with you.” He paused, Annabeth ignoring him, Butch standing to the side awkwardly as he got the pegasi ready. “Look,” He spoke in a low voice. “If it does have something to do with _him_ , I should be there.”

“Why, so you can report to your master?” She snapped tauntingly.

“So I can distract them so you can get out of there with Percy.” He corrected her, trying to keep a calm and level voice he’d practically perfected in his time of customer service. “However mad any loyalists might be at Percy, they’re going to be even more pissed at me. Let me come.” Desperation seeped into his voice. “I owe Percy and Sally that much.”

Annabeth kept a carefully guarded face, looking Luke over before groaning. “Fine. Fine!” She poked his chest. “But if I think anything funny is going on, I won’t hesitate in pushing you off the chariot.”

Luke nodded and got on with Butch and Annabeth as they took off into the sky, officially on their way to the Grand Canyon.

They seemed to have arrived just on time, though Percy wasn’t anywhere in sight. Instead, it was three kids, looking a little frazzled and a lot confused.

“Who are you and what happened?” Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the blonde boy.

Something about the kid seemed familiar to Luke. He narrowed his eyes, looking him over curiously. Something about his eyes, about the basic confidence surrounding him that reminded Luke of someone, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Annabeth, check it out,” Butch nodded to the kids feet.

Luke looked. He didn’t understand the significance of one shoe thing, but Annabeth obviously wasn’t thrilled. She glared at the demigods as if they were the reason Percy was gone and muttered something about how they might as well take them anyways before stalking off, back to the chariot.

“What’s her problem?” The girl, Piper, asked incredulously.

“Seriously,” Leo agreed.

While Butch explained about the vision, and Percy, Luke kept his gaze fixed on Jason curiously. “What’d you say your name was?” He asked as they walked back to the chariot.

“Jason.” The boy answered. “And you?”

“I’m Luke,” He nodded. “What’s your last name?”

“I don’t remember,” Jason admitted. “I don’t remember anything.”

Luke nodded slowly, a little lost in thought as they got onto the chariot. Butch drove, and Luke took the very back, hanging on so no one fell off.

One second, they were flying fine, the next, they were heading head first into the lake.

The nymphs were kind enough to take them back to shore, and campers came forward with towels. Will, a son of Apollo, seemed like an odd combination of frustrated and distraught over the loss of his chariot while Luke helped Butch cut the destroyed reins off of the pegasi. His gaze drifted back over to Jason who was taking off his jacket.

His arm held a tattoo- no. No it was burn marks. Intricate burn marks that looked like an Eagle, and the letters SPQR, as well as several tally marks.

Eagle.

It clicked in his brain. Jason. Eagle. The scar on his upper lip. The blonde hair. The stormy eyes. The effortlessly confident aura.

When they were on the run, Thalia told him about her little brother maybe twice. She hadn’t gone into much detail, mostly that she had one, he was blonde, like her natural roots, and tried to eat a stapler. She wouldn’t talk about what happened to him, but the way Thalia skirted the topic he had come to his own conclusion.

But maybe they were both wrong.

“Jason, you should speak to Chiron. Drew, can you take him?”

Everyone went their separate ways, the newly claimed Leo following Will to cabin 9, Piper with Annabeth and Jason being dragged away by Drew. Luke snuck off to the fountain behind the Iris Cabin.

“Luke, you’re all wet,” Sally said when she answered the Iris-Message.

“Yeah, took a bit of a swim after the Canyon.” Luke shrugged. “Storm spirits. Real nasty buggers.”

“And?”

Luke hesitated, and that was all the answer Sally needed. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, shaking her head. “Where is he?” She mumbled.

“It’s only been a few days,” Luke reasoned. “I’ll find him Sally, I promise.”

“I know.” She sighed again. “How’s Annabeth doing?”

“Well I thought she was going to kill one of the new demigods on the basis that he wasn’t Percy, but besides that she’s holding up as best can be expected.” Luke shrugged. “She usually avoids me, so I’m not 100% certain how she’s actually doing.”

“Tell her to call me, if she wants.” Sally told him. “I don’t mind.”

“I will.” He nodded. “How are you holding up?”

“You would think that with the amount of times Percy’s gone missing before I would be used to it by now.” She sighed. “But he usually had Annabeth, or Grover, or even Tyson with him when he did, and he’d call me as soon as he got the chance. But this… it’s the longest he’s ever been missing without contacting me.”

“I’m sorry Sally,” He ran a hand through his hair- it was getting long, maybe he should convince a daughter of Aphrodite to give him a trim. “We’ll keep searching, the camp won’t stop until he’s found.”

“I appreciate it Luke, I really do.” She paused. “You don’t think it’s… him, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Luke answered honestly. “I don’t know anything anymore.” He bit his lip. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” She sighed. “I better run, keep me updated, okay?”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded.

They said their goodbyes and Luke sat down by the fountain, usually tended to by one of Iris’ children. He caught his reflection, his eyes widening. He rubbed them furiously, looking back at the water.

They may have returned to normal, but his heartbeat picked up all the same, his chest tightened and he found it hard to breathe.

He could’ve sworn they were gold for that brief moment.


	9. Lightning Strikes The Same Place Twice

Luke was tired, and cranky, and genuinely did not want to be at the campfire.

But after Jason had his vision of Hera, of all people, and Piper got dragged in with a similar vision in Hera’s cabin, Chiron heavily suggested Luke appear at the campfire.

Despite everything, even Chiron couldn’t deny that Luke was one of the best warriors at camp.

So there he was, still at the fire, watching people singing How Grandma Dresses For War, goofing around, the Apollo cabin breaking out the lyres.

He kept glancing at Jason, furrowing his eyebrows. The boy seemed a little confused a lot of the time. He was young too, maybe a year younger than Percy? That would make sense, if he is who Luke is nearly certain he is.

Gods usually didn’t have more than one child with a mortal. Connor and Travis were the only exception to the rule, as far as he was aware. Castor and Pollux didn’t really count, since they had been actual twins.

Whatever little Luke knew about Thalia’s brother, he knew less about her mom. They didn’t talk about their moms, they weren’t important in the grand scheme of things.

But something told Luke this wasn’t just a godly parent connection.

He also could be completely off his rockers and exhausted and looking for connections that weren’t there because of the amount of stress he had experienced in the last three days, trying to find Percy, trying to keep Sally notified, trying to keep peace between the cabins without the tension relieving activity of capture the flag even though he was pretty sure he just caused more tension since any campers that were in the war didn’t trust or like him much, and relayed the information to the new campers.

“By the gods Luke, you’ll burn a hole in his head if you keep looking at him like that.” Connor commented, leaning back while eating a roasted marshmallow.

Most of the campers anyways.

“Oh shut up,” He rolled his eyes.

“Why’s the new kid on your radar?” Travis butted in, settling in on the other side of Luke after being dragged into a dance with an Apollo camper. “Think he’s cute?”

Luke contemplated telling the Stolls. They were pretty good at secret keeping- they had to be he supposed with the amount of pranks they pulled on everyone -but Luke wasn’t even sure it was considered a secret yet, just a theory.

The Stolls exchanged looks. Luke wasn’t even falling into the bait. They both sat up and glanced around.

“What’s going on?” Connor asked quietly. “What is it?”

Not to mention the incident with the fountain of Iris, Luke had gotten pretty good at pushing away the feeling of Kronos locking him in his own head, seeing his reflection and never being quite sure enough if he was actually looking at him. The job helped, Sally and Percy helped, Sophie helped. For a moment he had felt normal.

But this couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?

It certainly wasn’t the first time he could’ve sworn his eyes were gold. In fact, if you looked closely, his eyes still had a gold undertone, a parting gift from the Titan King himself. Luke would never be able to escape his past.

“Luke,” Travis put a hand on his shoulder, and Luke reached for the sword he’d left back at the Big House.

Thank gods, otherwise Travis would be a Stoll-Kabab.

Travis and Connor weren’t serious often, but they could certainly tell when their older brother was off. He’d become an open book since Kronos.

“Luke, what’s going on?” He whispered. “Is it Jason?”

“Do you know his godly parent?” Connor butted in.

Before Luke could answer, Chiron came over, Piper and Rachel following suit, making an announcement about Hera, Jason and the quest he inevitably had to go on. Before they could inquire further, Rachel was reciting the Great Prophecy.

The second one that is.

_Eight half-bloods will answer the call,_

_To Storm or Fire the world must fall,_

_An oath to keep with a final breath,_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death._

With a brief latin interruption from Jason, a camper brought up a rather good point.

“Why isn’t he claimed then?” Someone shouted.

“He is claimed,” Chiron corrected grimly. “Jason, show them.”

Jason held out his arm, showing off the eagle, that same uneasy expression on his face. Luke watched him look to Piper before pulling a coin out, flipping it.

In an instant, Jason was holding a javelin, and everyone was gushing over it.

“I want one!” Someone from Ares Cabin shouted.

“It’s so much better than Clarisse’s electric spear.” Someone else commented.

Luke watched Jason look at his spear thoughtfully and his eyes widened, grabbing Travis and Connor and pulling them down moments before lightning flashed over their heads.

Before Connor and Travis could comment on Luke’s instinct, Chiron urged Jason to announce his godly parent.

“Jupiter- or, Zeus, rather. Lord of the Sky.” Jason announced, looking back at his tattoo.

“You don’t look particularly surprised,” Travis observed.

Luke leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, narrowing his eyes in thought. “He reminds me of Thalia.”

“Thalia?” The Stolls repeated, looking at him.

Luke nodded.

Before they could prompt their brother to explain, Rachel was reciting Jason’s personal quest.

_Child of lightning beware the Earth,_

_The giants revenge the eight shall birth,_

_The forge and dove shall break the cage,_

_And death unleash through Hera’s rage._

It was clear now if it wasn’t before- the Second Great Prophecy was in the first phase, and Jason was meant to lead it.

After volunteering to go, Leo immediately made a mad dash for the forest- not a great start. Piper didn’t seem thrilled about the claiming but it certainly solidified her spot on the quest.

Piper and Jason went their own ways after the quest was assigned, and everyone was slowly trying to get back into the spirit of the fire.

Luke looked to the sky, lost in thought.

Why couldn’t things be easy, just for one night?

He went back to the Big House, going to his room and collapsing onto the bed.

He needed to get some sleep.

It was going to be a long time until he got a real bed again.


End file.
